KARACHI: Grand Democratic Alliance chief Pir Pagara has said that July 25 general elections in the country have changed the overall ground realities and sent a new message to all those parties who used to await their turns to grab power.

“Now they will have no more free hand even if they have ‘managed’ to get majority in the province because Imran Khan’s party has made its way to the corridors of power through his image of Mr Clean and call for accountability across the board starting from the top,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief told Dawn while giving his take on the speech delivered in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday by Syed Murad Ali Shah after his re-election as leader of the house.

Mr Pagara said Murad Ali Shah had been sharing power since the Pakistan Peoples Party had formed the government in 2008 in Sindh with Syed Qaim Ali Shah as chief minister.

Opposition will support govt if it works for people’s welfare, observes Khwaja Izhar

However, as a manager of the provincial exchequer he failed to deliver as the responsibility for the devastation of infrastructure in Sindh and non-availability of basic facilities despite spending billions of rupees on ADP projects lay on his shoulders, he said.

However, the PPP’s “chief financial advisers” succeeded in August 2016 to convince Asif Ali Zardari to call then Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to Dubai and replaced him with Syed Murad Ali Shah for better results, he added.

After becoming the chief minister he had served only the interest of one family, but now with the beginning of a new era of Imran Khan’s rule, the Sindh government would have no more free hand which it had during the Nawaz Sharif government, which did not consider Sindh part of Pakistan and had left the province at the mercy of PPP, he claimed.

Pir Pagara said the initiation of inquiries against former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and his close associate Anwar Majeed was a clear message to all in Sindh to be cautious and be prepared for accountability.

‘Opposition to support govt’

Responding to a question after the Sindh Assembly session, Khawaja Izharul Hassan, who was leader of the opposition in the previous Sindh Assembly, said if the government would work well, the opposition would have no complaints to make.

The opposition would extend full support to the government if all projects were executed for the welfare of people, he said.

He added that in Syed Murad Ali Shah’s speech there was no mention of any new priorities and like in the past he failed to mention priorities for providing employment to the people.

However, he said that as people of Sindh had given them mandate, they had good expectations from the government.

In reply to a question, he said the MQM-P would extend support to the PTI for the leader of opposition.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2018